Mardani defeated Russia’s Vladislav Larin in the men’s over-80 kilograms final in Azerbaijan’s capital earlier this month.

The 28-year-old reached the gold medal match with victory over Niger’s Abdoul Issoufou, the silver medallist from Rio 2016 where Mardani suffered quarter-final elimination at the hands of Great Britain’s Mahama Cho.

"This proved that I could do my best and that my hard work had paid off," he said.

"Now, I can hold my head high."

Although Mardani admits his main goal is the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, he says he is only looking to the next competition and is trying to focus on varying his game.  

"You have to adjust and change and adapt - the person who remains the same is not successful in any sport," he added.

Mardani was not the only Iranian taekwondo player to dip below expectations at Rio 2016, with the much-fancied Farzan Ashourzadeh losing to Morocco’s Omar Hajjami in the preliminary round of the men’s 58kg event.

Another team-mate, Mehdi Khodabakhshi, fell to defeat against Azerbaijan’s Milad Beigi in the quarter-finals of the men’s 80kg division, despite being the top seed. 

"For sure, the athletes you expect to perform the best are the ones you study more and analyse," Mardani said when asked about the reasons behind the disappointing outcomes. 

"We were the favourites, so I believe people studied us."

He added: "That fact that I was unable to win as well was so painful.

"We were in disbelief."

Iran managed just one taekwondo medal at Rio 2016, a bronze for Kimia Alizadeh in the women’s 57kg category.